Porgs, Puffins, and Droids: What You Missed in “The Last Jedi”

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‘Tis the season for the extreme sport of analyzing Star Wars movies! With the recent release of The Last Jedi, fans have had plenty to talk about and the internet has been flooded with everything from easter egg hunts to fan theories. Here are three things we bet you didn’t know about about The Last Jedi:

In a nearly universal consensus among members of the Star Wars community, porgs were by far the cutest part of The Last Jedi. What may surprise viewers, however, is that their inclusion wasn’t simply based on the marketing potential for adorable porg stuffed animals. According to concept designer Jake Lunt Davies, the actual island where they filmed “is covered in puffins. It’s a wildlife preserve.” The puffin problem arose because they couldn’t physically remove protected birds and CGI-ing them out would be too much work. Thus, the idea for porgs was born. The concept design team drew up a Star Wars style species to inhabit the island and within a few evolutions of the design, they had the creatures who stole everyone’s hearts at the boxoffice.

In what seemed to many fans a disappointing and absurdly convienent move, The Last Jedi introduced the concept of hyperspace tracking to fix what would’ve otherwise been a plot hole. This critical plot point, however, was actually referenced during the climax of Rogue One as Jyn Erso searches through the Empire’s list of secret projects including both the Death Star and hyperspace tracking. Although perhaps not enough to comfort the most disappointed of die-hard fans, this easter egg proves that hyperspace tracking had at least a little bit of thought put in.

Second in fame only to Darth Vader’s “I am your father,” the line “I have a bad feeling about this” has appeared in every Star Wars movie to date. A tradition ever since Luke and Han first delivered the quote in A New Hope, fans may have been initially disappointed not to hear it in The Last Jedi. It was—however—present, simply not in a language most viewers would understand: droid binary. BB-8 (companion to pilot Poe Dameron) says the line minutes into the film, to which Poe replies “Happy beeps, buddy! Happy beeps!” before speeding into battle.

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